The Lenovo ThinkPad T400s (Multitouch) ($2,395 direct) incites lust among business users. It has the Lenovo ThinkPad X301's exquisitely thin dimensions, but offers a 14-inch LED widescreen. It's the lightest business laptop in its classand that's with an internal optical drive. The latest edition (and bear in mind that this is not a convertible tablet) incorporates a multitouch screen that allows you to use one or several fingers to navigate the screen. It takes advantage of Microsoft's Touch Pack and other touch-friendly applications made for Windows 7 and is, bar none, the best implementation of a multitouch panel yet on a laptop. But since the screen itself doesn't rotate like that of the ThinkPad X200 Tablet (and therefore, it can't be used as a slate), finding the right business implementations for it might be challenging. Luckily, the X200 Tablet will be getting the same multi-touch treatment. The system ships with Microsoft Windows 7; as such, it won't be shipping until Windows 7 launches, sometime in late October.

Design
Implementing a multitouch panel didn't have a significant impact on the T400s's svelte dimensions, but it did increase its thickness by a fraction of a centimeterinconsequential from a design standpoint. It's still considerably thinner than the original ThinkPad T400, measuring 13.3 by 9.4 by 1.1 inches (HWD). The only real consequence is its weight: At 4.4 pounds, the T400s (Multitouch) is a half-a-pound heavier than the ThinkPad T400s (3.9 lbs), a weight increase that will be noticeable among road warriors. Still, it's lighter than the original T400 (5.2 lbs). And systems like the Dell Latitude E6400 (5.6 lbs) and HP EliteBook 6930p (5.3 lbs) aren't even in the same ballpark.

Unfortunately, the T400s had to unload certain features to achieve this thinness. The T400 has dual card slots that can hold both an ExpressCard slot and a multi-card reader; the T400s has only room for one: It comes standard with an ExpressCard 34 slot or you can replace it with an SD slot for a $10 premium. A Firewire port, which is present in the T400, has gone AWOL in the T400s. Both of these omitted features are inconsequential for most business professionals. An ExpressCard slot could've accommodated a 3G wireless card, but good thing the T400s has every wireless technology built-in. This includes embedded 3G (via Qualcomm's Gobi technology), 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth, and a GPS chip. There are specialty ports like DisplayPort and an E-SATA and USB combo port, as well as two additional USB ports. And hard drive options include a 128GB SSD, which Lenovo chose for this configuration because of its speed advantages over spinning drives.

Features
The big news of course is the new multitouch gestures, and it's the only non-tablet to have it thus far. By tapping two fingers on the screen, you invoke a series of icons that are touch-enabled, called Lenovo's Simple Tap (A red virtual button at the top of the screen does the same thing). Most of them are settings-based, like adjusting the volume, initiating the webcam, adjusting the brightness level, logging out of Windows 7, and turning on airplane mode. You can also customize your own icons by creating a path to a specific program or application. According to Lenovo, it can support up to 30 touch icons (and no, it doesn't create a second page, similar to how the apps fill the Apple iPhone 3G). The icons can be moved around and rearranged as you please. Another neat feature is that you can use anyone of the icons to scatter the rest, like a bowling bowl against a set of pinscute, but not essential for business.

Outside of Simple Tap, the touch gestures work like a charm. There were times when tapping the screen didn't produce a response, but Lenovo is working on updating its drivers, so I'll just chalk this up to minor pre-production issues. You can pinch and expand most files with two fingers. Three- and four-finger gestures are supported by the panel, but you'll need third-party applications that will take advantage of them. The X200 Tablet, meanwhile, uses a 2-finger multitouch screen only. Flicking was as natural as swiping a finger on the iPhone. What impressed me most was the scrolling function: In a browser, for example, the screen itself acts as one big scroll button. That's the same way you would scroll with an iPhone. Convertible tablets like the Fujitsu LifeBook T5010 (Multitouch) and HP TouchSmart TX2z rely on physical scrolling buttons or a finger would have to be squeezed along the browser's scroll bar. It's a feature we'll see more of in Windows 7.

With multitouch, the business implementations remain to be seen. Lenovo is partnering up with companies like Space Claim, an offshoot of Solid Works, to use multi-touch in CAD design. Graphics designers and artists can also reap the benefits of touch (better command with your fingers than a touchpad or pointing device). The system also ships with Touch Pack for Windows 7, a collection of casual games and applications optimized for multitouch, and Microsoft's Autocollage Touch 2009, another multitouch application made for organizing photos.

New OS, Performance Change
The T400s's feature set and typing experience remain untouched, and so too are the parts responsible for its speed. However, a shift in the operating systemespecially going from Windows Vista Business to Windows 7 Professionalcan and will affect performance. As with the T400s, the multitouch version runs on a 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P9500 processor and 2GB of DDR3 memory. Discrete graphics are not available in the T400s, so you will have to get by with Intel's integrated graphics processing. The T400, on the other hand, will let you switch between an integrated chipset and a more 3D capable discrete Nvidia chipset. Most business users, however, will find that integrated graphics is more than enough.

In tests, high scores were split between the T400s and the T400s multitouch version. Video encoding, a processor-intensive test, improved by a margin of 6 seconds with the T400s (Multitouch) and outperformed the original T400 by 2 seconds. The difference in Cinebench R10 results were insignificant, as the T400s (Multitouch) trailed the T400s by about 1%. Adobe Photoshop CS4 is a memory-intensive test, and since both machines ran with 2GB, it's no surprise that they both scored 35 seconds.

Extended batteries, unfortunately, are not available with the T400s (Multitouch). The bottom can only fit the standard 44Wh (6-cell) battery. The optical drive can be swapped out for an additional battery, but then you lose the disc drive. Bapco's MobileMark 2007 has been updated for Windows 7 (via Release Patch 1.06), and the T400s (Multitouch) ran it to completion, with a score of 4 hours 20 minutes, trailing the T400s by 11 minutes (4 hours 31 minute)not too bad. Both the multi-touch hardware and Windows 7 are the likely culprits for this minor differential. It's an admirable score, but falls short of the T400's 5 hours 20 minutes and the E6400's 5 hours 32 minute scoresboth of which do support extended batteries.

How Green Is It?
ThinkPads go out of their way to emphasize their "green" credentials. The T400s (Multitouch) is certified for Energy Star 5.0, EPEAT Gold, and RoHS. The use of an LED display eliminates the use of some hazardous materials (Mercury and Arsenic) and promotes energy efficiency. Furthermore, an excellent recycling program has been in place for large businesses since day one. Our energy consumption tests further cements its GreenTech award, as our P3 International Kill-A-Watt meter measured a 13-watt reading in idle statethe same reading as the T400s.

With the help of Windows 7 and special hardware, Lenovo added multitouch functionality to the ThinkPad T400sa $400 option, mind you, that works on a business laptop sans a swivel screen. Yet, it's the best multitouch implementation on a laptop I've seen to date. Of course, this is also a function of Windows 7, so I can't rule out the effect it will have on tablets like the Fujitsu Lifebook T5010 (Multitouch) and HP TouchSmart TX2z. If the T400s (Multitouch) is any indication, Windows 7 will bring some excitement to touch interfaces. For business laptops, though, finding the right usage scenarios will be challenging.

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